Salmond versus the BBC, Round…

It keeps rumbling on… A dispute which emerged at the weekend, between First Minister, Alex Salmond, and the BBC, has taken a new twist today, with a Scottish Government spokesperson reported accusing the BBC of getting its 'facts wrong'.

It followed an U-turn by the BBC that meant Salmond was no longer appearing, as expected, on a rugby chat broadcast on the BBC ahead of the Scotland-England match at Murrayfield on Saturday.

Salmond was then criticised for effectively describing the person who made the decision on behalf of the BBC a 'gauleiter', commonly defined as a Nazi Party branch leader, prompting former Labour MP and Westminister minister, Brian Wilson, to write in yesterday's Scotsman: “I am not sure whether the kind of boorish abuse directed at the BBC man works in Mr Salmond's favour.”

And now today, splashed across the front page of The Herald, it's being disputed who invited who. Did Salmond's team ask for the First Minister to appear on the BBC or did the BBC ask if Salmond would like to appear?

Writes Kate Devlin, UK political correspondent: “… the Scottish Government accused the BBC of getting its 'facts wrong' [claiming Salmond's team asked]. A spokesman pointed to emails from the editor of BBC TV Sport, which he said clearly showed the SNP leader had been invited to the programme.”